Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

Results tagged ‘ Sidney Ponson ’

Hello from Gate B7 at BWI, where the Yankees beat is furiously trying to catch up with the team as they’ve already winged their way to Kansas City. This afternoon’s game sees an old pal, as Sidney Ponson will be added to the Royals’ roster to make the start at the newly-renovated Kauffman Stadium. Maybe he’ll do better than Carl Pavano did yesterday for the Indians.

By the way, I’m now a believer in all the hype — the iPhone has changed my life. I can’t stop telling people about all the neat things it does, and I’ve barely had it for a couple of days now, so I don’t really even know what I’m talking about. In any event, it works better than the phone I had to crack against the Yankee Stadium press box on April 3 just to get it to turn on…

Sharing a couple of photos with you before we depart Baltimore:

Yankees take batting practice at Camden Yards

Yankees-Orioles under the lights on Wednesday

Nighttime in the Inner Harbor @ the Power Plant

Share this:

Like this:

Not much to write home about in the Yankees’ last two games — just goes to show you how important starting pitching is, with both Sidney Ponson and Mike Mussina putting the Bombers in early holes. They’re down big to the O’s at the Stadium tonight and this looks like it’ll be it for the home winning streak.

You could have predicted the big news story of the day, with Jorge Posada electing to have season-ending surgery. It was curious that Posada took BP before the game, but maybe he just wanted to get a few last strokes in on the playing field at Yankee Stadium. By the time Posada is available to play in a regular season game for the Yankees, the current facility will be history and Posada’s uniform will be hanging across 161st Street.

“After speaking with Brian (Cashman) and Joe (Girardi), we thought it was best for me —
and the team — to have the surgery now,” Posada said in a statement.
“I’ve always taken pride in being there for my team and playing every
day with them. With Xavier (Nady) here, there isn’t as much pressure on me to
return. As difficult as it is, I can focus on coming back 100 percent for next season instead of coming back at less than that now.”

Scouting Report:Yankees: Ponson, who signed with New York on June 18, will be making
his fourth start in a Yankees uniform this season. During his last
outing he surrendered one earned run over six innings while recording
two strikeouts against Tampa Bay. Ponson owns a 10-2 record with a 2.42
ERA in 15 career appearances against Minnesota.

Twins: A stellar first half has Blackburn being mentioned as a Rookie of the Year candidate. The sinkerballer has started to become more consistent, delivering quality starts in five of his last six outings. He’s started to eliminate his problems with the big inning and could be a factor for the Twins in the second half. He’ll make his second start against the Yankees. In the first, he left having pitched just 4 1/3 innings after he was struck in the face by a Bobby Abreu line drive.

Scouting Report:Yankees: Rasner battled through five innings en route to his fifth
victory during his last outing against the Blue Jays. The
27-year-old allowed four runs in the first inning but
settled in and managed to get through five innings on 108 pitches. He
finished his outing with six strikeouts for his first victory since
June 18. After starting the season with three straight victories,
Rasner is now 2-7 with a 6.19 ERA over his past nine outings. He is 1-1
with a 3.97 ERA in two career starts against the Twins.

Twins: An infected fingernail on Slowey’s right middle finger pushed him back in the rotation. After a string of good starts, Slowey has found some trouble recently. He’s given up at least five earned runs in each of his last two starts. The Twins need Slowey to make quicker adjustments on the mound and keep the ball down in the zone. He’ll try when he faces the Yankees for the first time this season.

Scouting Report:Yankees: Mussina surpassed his win total from the entire 2007 season
when he picked up his 12th win Friday night against the A’s. He threw
six innings of one-run ball and scattered nine hits to quiet the
Oakland offense. Mussina struck out six — four looking — and did not
record a walk for the second straight game. He is now 11-3 with a 3.00
ERA in his last 16 starts.

Twins: The rookie left-hander continues to impress the Twins in a starting role. Perkins held a hot-hitting Rangers lineup scoreless for six innings, allowing three hits and walking three. He’s 3-0 in his last three starts and has not lost since May 30, going 5-0 with a 3.81 ERA over that span. That last loss came against the Yankees. Perkins gave up five earned runs on 10 hits over just four innings in that first outing at the Metrodome.

Share this:

Like this:

Sidney Ponson will be on the mound tonight as the Yankees complete their three-game series with the Texas Rangers, playing on after Hank Steinbrenner publicly called the team out for its lackadaisical offense. We just grabbed Brian Cashman on the field and he wasn’t taken by surprise when Hank unloaded, speaking to the Associated Press:

“He’s right,” Cashman said. “The offense has underperformed and we’ve got to figure it out. The strength of this team, more than anything, is supposed to be the offense. It’s a weakness for us right now and we’ve got to fight our way through it and get guys going in the right direction. It’s simple as that.”

They’ll get their first chance tonight — the Yankees’ 388 runs scored are their fewest since 1992, when they had 374 runs and a 42-42 record after 84 games. In case you’re wondering — and I was — the ’92 Yanks lost that 85th game too, with Scott Sanderson allowing four runs over 7 2/3 innings. They fell to the Mariners, 5-2, when Dave Fleming threw a gem, making one mistake over eight innings — a two-run Danny Tartabull home run.

Imagine if this blog was around then?

Back in 2008, Melky Cabrera isn’t in the lineup, with the Yankees hoping to get his head right after a 0-for-19 drought. It’s looking like Hideki Matsui won’t be back before the All-Star Break; meanwhile, Chris Britton (strained left ribcage) threw a scoreless inning on rehab with the GCL Yankees on Tuesday. Humberto Sanchez (Tommy John surgery rehab) also appeared in the game, throwing a scoreless inning in his third rehab appearance.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.